On November 21, 2016, Attorney General Loretta Lynch signed a Final Rule revising the Department of Justice’s Title III of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires public accommodations, including movie theaters, to provide appropriate communication through the use of auxiliary aids and services. The Final Rule outlines specific requirements movie theaters must now meet in order to satisfy these obligations to individuals with hearing and vision disabilities. Specifically, the Final Rule requires movie theaters to:

1. Have and maintain the equipment necessary to provide closed movie captioning and audio description at a movie patron’s seat whenever showing a digital movie produced, distributed, or otherwise made available with these features;

2. Provide notice to the public about the availability of these features; and

3. Ensure that theater staff is available to assist patrons with the equipment before, during, and after the showing of a movie with these features.